OUR HOSTS: 

Corinne Foxx - @corinnefoxx

Natalie McMillan - @nataliemcm and @shopnataliemcmillan 

What we're drinking: Bernier Chardonnay

MEET OUR GUEST: 

Jen Tenzer - @thesoloist.travel and thesoloist.travel 



ABOUT OUR GUEST: 

Jen Tenzer is the founder of The Soloist, a hub for all things related to solo travel, including one-on-one solo travel planning, boutique retreats, and travel blog resources. After a 10+ year career in investment banking in Manhattan, she was burnt out and ready for a reset. She started The Soloist to fuel her passion for inspiring others to travel beyond their comfort zone, both literally and figuratively. She's an accredited travel agent who caters to solo female travelers and is committed to ensuring her clients feel safe and comfortable exploring the world alone.

TOPIC: 

Traveling by yourself is one of the greatest things that you can do for your personal development and self care, but it can be a daunting idea, especially as a woman. Jen Tenzer offers end-to-end travel services for new and experienced solo travelers to help them create their idea of the perfect vacation. We talk about what sparked the idea for The Soloist, her top tips for people embarking on their first trip by themselves, and the best ways to prepare for a solo vacation. She shares why it’s so beneficial to get out into the world on your own and resources to make sure you’re safe and protected while you’re traveling.  

In this episode, we discuss:

• Jen’s first solo trip to Chilean Patagonia 
• The liberation of taking yourself on a vacation 
• Top places for first-time solo travelers 
• The importance of getting comfortable being alone before traveling by yourself 
• How to prepare for potential cultural differences 
• Must-haves on your packing list 
• Discovering who you are when you travel alone 
• Jen’s vision for The Soloist group wellness retreats 

END OF THE SHOW: 

Corinne and Natalie introduce Hottie of the Week: Reese Witherspoon 

WINE RATING:

Bernier Chardonnay = Reese / Reese

WRAP UP:

To wrap up the episode, we play Facts and Hacks (and Snacks) while munching on Partake chocolate chip cookies. Corinne’s fact that Google Images was created after Jennifer Lopez wore her infamous 2000 Grammys jungle print Versace dress. Nat’s hack is that if you put a couple drops of your favorite essential oil on the filter of your vacuum, you can avoid that musty vacuum smell and make your space smell amazing. 

We have a newsletter for our Am I community. You can sign up for the newsletter on our website: amidoingthisrightpod.com

You can email us for episode ideas or Random Advice: amidoingthisrightpod@gmail.com

Follow us on Instagram: @amidoingthisrightpod 

Don't forget to rate and review the podcast! It really helps us grow!

[00:00:05] Natalie McMillan: And I'm Natalie McMillan.

[00:00:17] Natalie McMillan: And each week we cover a new topic and we drink a new bottle of wine.

[00:00:27] Natalie McMillan: So remember that Jason

Yeah, I guess I can't even walk down. Right, right. We're in another

[00:01:06] Corinne Foxx: constantly under attack. Yeah. Constantly, constantly. And not at the end of the episode, we're gonna play facts and hacks sex and yeah.

[00:01:17] Corinne Foxx: Yeah. We need a little jingle, but now what are we drinking?

This epi? We are

[00:01:48] Corinne Foxx: That's a very musical

Wow. What other things should we saying? I don't know. Sing the praises of this wine or not? Who's to say we'll find out at the end.

They're chocolate chip, crunchy cookies. They're vegan. Gluten-free egg-free soy-free fish free, which God, I hope so. God is with fish. I know, but I wanted you to try. Um, you can have more than one

[00:02:34] Corinne Foxx: potty. You excited very much like a gluten-free famous Amos. Oh

Let's see.

[00:02:53] Natalie McMillan: Yes. It's like salty. Sweet.

[00:03:05] Natalie McMillan: Facts hacks and snacks.

Get the shot here,

[00:03:14] Natalie McMillan: We have to do the genius. Oh my God. Oh my God. That really came up

[00:03:21] Natalie McMillan: That was a spiritual good. And also, by the way, we're not sponsored by these people, but Hey, we're open to it. Yeah. We're open

[00:03:30] Natalie McMillan: have we got sponsored by trader Joe's?

That would be a dream because my Katia pet bay little puffs are gone. I can't find them. I need a

[00:03:41] Natalie McMillan: Yeah. And then my, the little Brie wheels, the tiny breeze they're at yours no longer at mine. No

[00:03:56] Natalie McMillan: our mounts are full and we're smacking into

[00:04:02] Natalie McMillan: But not vision, a

We love our little bit trips, but. How overwhelming it can be to plan things out, especially if you're going somewhere you've never been before. It can even be more overwhelming to plan things out for a solo trip. And like we said, as a woman, it can be straight up scary to even consider it. So we're really excited to talk to Jen today to learn how to travel safely alone and what we can all gain from solo travel.

And you know, I'm going to say it again. I traveled to Costa Rica by myself and okay.

[00:04:49] Corinne Foxx: Oh, I'm probably alone a lot.

I

[00:05:16] Natalie McMillan: here.

And when you were in a haunted hotel one time, oh my God, you called me. And you're like, you're like, I think I need to move rooms. And it was like, like a weirdest layout.

And like, there was like velvet on the walls. Like it was so weird and I was in the show. All the lights were on in the, in the room. They all went off. No. And then I said, no, no, thank you. Please go away. Turn the lights back on. It's not happening today. Not today. Say 10. Yeah. I was just like, you know,

[00:05:56] Corinne Foxx: don't have time for this anyways.

Okay. So

Physically and figuratively travel beyond. She's a travel advisor who caters to solo female travelers and is committed to ensuring her clients feel safe and comfortable exploring the world alone. Love it. Let's bring her on. Let's bring her on.

[00:06:44] Jen Tenzer: Jay. Hey guys. Thank you so much for having me on. Oh

[00:07:03] Jen Tenzer: and.

I'm sure people are like, we get it current. You traveled to Costa Rica, but it's because it was such a big deal in such like a big milestone in my life. So I absolutely love what you do, which is helping people and especially women plan their first solo trips. And I'm curious when you took your first solo trip and like what inspired you to even do that?

And I went to Patagonia, solo, not everyone knows where Patagonia is. So it's at the Southern tip of south America, and it's a region that spans across both Chile and Argentina. And it's like so remote and it's amazing for hiking and outdoor activities, but I definitely. Bit off a lot in that first solo trip, but it was amazing similar to what you were saying.

I just came back and I was like, this is life changing. Why aren't more people doing this? And you know, my friends thought I was nuts and I was just like, no, I'm not nuts. You can do this too. It shouldn't be so scary. And that's kind of. When a seed was planted, like I want to inspire and support more women to feel comfortable doing this and having this amazing experience.

Yeah. I feel like

My friends thought I was nuts. Like, oh my God shooters. And now she's going off to a foreign country.

[00:09:11] Corinne Foxx: went to Patagonia alone or you just like, felt called to do.

I was just so burned out at work. So like a little bit of background on me. I used to be in investment banking and Manhattan. For over a decade and like just worked these crazy grueling hours and had no personal life and was so, so single and just felt like, okay, I desperately need a vacation. And you know, my friends are all doing their own thing, but I need this.

I'm just gonna do it. I guess. Like, I need it for me. I'm going to make it happen. And that's pretty liberating, you know? Not have to wait for your friends or family or boyfriend or other people to have the same perfect schedule and budget, and want to go to the same place and just kind of take it back into your own hands and just go.

[00:10:29] Jen Tenzer: I was a little nervous, but honestly, I don't know.

I just like was too naive and weirdly courageous and like, wasn't probably as afraid as I think most people are and I was just getting. So busy at work, like didn't have time to like, be wrapped up in the fear of it all. Yeah. And I think like any fear that I felt just manifested in me, like over-planning and researching everything and just making sure I was so prepared.

And so it didn't really hit me that, like, this is a really big deal. And why am I doing this until I got on the plane? You know, wheels went up and I was like, wait, what am I doing? I don't really speak Spanish. You know, like, but I was like, okay, I guess I have to make the most of it. Like, I'm going, I'm in the air, you know?

And I know. It was amazing.

[00:11:27] Jen Tenzer: No, not really. I had an amazing time. Nothing tragic happened. I met so many amazing people, but I just, it's not what I would recommend for a first time. Solo traveler, you know? Do not go to the other side of the earth to a place where you do not speak the language all alone.

Maybe you try something like a little closer to home. Some are English speaking and start small. That's what we were

If you speak English or your native language. Yes. Is there anything else that you do insert small,

Dining alone is like a whole other like weird situation that most people don't put themselves in. So don't have the first time that you do that. Be on a solo trip in a foreign place. Go to a restaurant around the corner that you've always wanted to try, that maybe has a bar where you can sit up, sit at and like chat up the bartender and dine out solo that way before you go, go to a museum alone, just get more comfortable being alone and start, just take baby steps.

And so then when you even take your first solo trip, it's not as much of a leap and you can kind of continue to escalate from there. Yeah.

You might be somewhere where you don't get as much like data. So you can't just like sit there and squirrel on in-store your friend. Yeah. You might have a different time zone. So you also have to use it just like sitting there and like . Yeah, exactly.

It's just like a personal growth. Aspect that I, I highly

[00:13:50] Natalie McMillan: Yeah. And it's unlike any other personal growth thing you could do. You know what I mean? It's like, there's no amount of therapy or self-help books or journaling that can get the same type of experience as a trip by yourself. Yeah. You know, what would your top three places be for the first time?

Solo travel?

Obviously English speaking, if you're an American helps. And then in terms of foreign destinations, Costa Rica is definitely a top pick there's so much to do there. And lots of like group activities where you can meet other people as well. I

[00:14:54] Jen Tenzer: Yeah. That's perfect. Lot of people speak English there. And tourism is really well established. So it's a pretty easy place. Other places that I've had solo travel clients go is like tons of places in Europe. Like Portugal's really popular. I also solo traveled to Japan, which I felt the, yeah. So like you just want to, you want to keep in mind places that have an established, like tourism infrastructure places.

If you're a solo female traveler. Have a lot of respect for women. Yeah. Places that have a crime rate, that's like, you know, manageable and safe, and then just places where there's tons of stuff to do, because you don't want to be like sitting alone in your hotel room, just like stewing and spiraling over your thoughts.

You want to keep yourself busy and.

[00:16:07] Jen Tenzer: Definitely want to put together your itinerary beforehand and share it with friends and family. So you want to make sure that like they have the hotels that you're staying at with, you know, the contact numbers and the addresses so they can contact someone in an emergency. Another thing that I would recommend is sharing your live location.

So either whether it's through like the, find my friends app or on Google maps, you can also share your location again, like worst case scenario. Someone knows where you are at any given time. Other tips for safety. I don't know if you've heard of the. The step program, I'm going to mess up the acronym.

[00:16:55] Jen Tenzer: so, so honestly, solo travel or not, I highly recommend it. Basically. You just register your trip where you're going for how long with the U S government and. If anything is happening in that destination, they will send you a text message.

Just so you're aware that something's going on, where you are also, if you're in an uncomfortable situation and you just need to be like contacting a consulate or a government person and getting yourself out, they know that you're there and it's much easier to facilitate that. So I would highly recommend doing that other safety tips, like little things, you know, you just want to like, Be mindful of your surroundings, you know, and just have good senses in terms of like, don't go out alone at night and you know, don't go getting wasted.

If you're in a foreign place, you just want to kinda like, keep your spidey sense. Up. And if something feels off, it usually is just take yourself out of the situation and don't be afraid to like lie. Little white lies are fine. If someone's approaching you. And it just feels sketchy, you know, like I'll, I'll just say, oh, you know, my boyfriend's checking into the hotel.

He'll be right back. I'm not alone.

[00:18:22] Natalie McMillan: the thing that I was just thinking about too, if I were so low is I think I would have my AirPods in a lot, like listening to music or something.

That's probably not a good idea. Probably not because also they have those new ones that cancel out all the sound. Yeah. So you probably shouldn't walk eyes up, nothing in the

Like, look at your phone beforehand, look at Google maps, kind of figure out where you're going before you actually leave so that you're not. With your head and your phone the whole time walking, they're just completely unaware of your surroundings. It

Yeah.

[00:19:15] Corinne Foxx: find you. Yeah, I'm curious about, so we talked about like places that you recommend for your first strip, but what are some countries that maybe aren't great for women to visit alone? Or are there any countries that you find to be a little bit more dangerous?

You know, I know every, you know, it's, it's

Of attention and men will just come up and try and sell you things all the time. Um, follow you like while you're walking and try and be your tour guide and things like that. And I just felt a little bit uncomfortable. Other places are like in the middle east. I think it's also just culturally, like some countries.

They just won't necessarily keep as much space between you and them. So they might like a man might come up very close into your face and start talking in a way where like, I've just felt a little bit uncomfortable. That doesn't mean they necessarily have like malicious intent behind it. So, yeah, I think countries like that.

Like they don't like you to be, you know, like maybe to touch them right away. And so that makes sense that like, you're not used to having someone come that close to you and it makes you feel uncomfortable, but like in their culture, that's totally fine. And like an ours that's different. So it's like being prepared that there's going to be those cultural differences and like what makes you feel comfortable and what makes.

Uncomfortable. Yeah,

[00:21:16] Natalie McMillan: talking about all these places, I'm just thinking more like, Ooh, I would want to, you know, try to go there and this and that, but I am so bad at packing. I am horrible at packing. So what would you say are some like key items specifically for solo travel that you might not consider?

Also, if you're worried. I don't know, depending on where you're staying. If you're staying in like a budget place where you're worried, someone might break down your hotel door or something, you can get one of those little like rubber doorstops and shove it under the door just to make sure no one could come in smart.

[00:22:25] Natalie McMillan: a whistle on the doorstop. I would not have thought of

What can you say? Like what can you gain from traveling by yourself that you can't gain traveling with a big group?

So draining and going on a solo trip, it's incredibly refreshing because for the first time you're really just tapping into, okay, what do I want to do today or not, you know, and tapping into your core, wants and needs. So you can expect to feel incredibly refreshed and not like a typical vacation where you get home and then you like need a vacation from that vacation.

And that's like, when you're traveling by yourself, All you it's whatever you want. You're like,

[00:23:57] Corinne Foxx: Yeah, exactly. Which I have done exactly. I mean,

And. Yeah. Like no one even knew until now when I'm sharing it publicly, but no one even knows. And that's like, it's, I don't know. It's like a really lovely way to escape. Other benefits of solo travel are confidence, right? Like to fly to the other side of the world, potentially and deal with little mishaps that come up like as you're traveling all on your own meet amazing people have these experiences and then get home safe and sound.

That's like incredibly empowering and you just feel like you can literally do anything.

[00:25:01] Jen Tenzer: And just like freedom and. I think cause like society tells us that, like we can't do that.

You know, especially as women, we shouldn't be putting ourselves in those situations and we're not capable of these things without someone else there with us. So it's like definitely builds a lot of confidence to like break that it's

And it's like, or you shouldn't stay in bed all day and watch a marathon on Netflix. If it's nice out, like it's more of just following what you want to do and

[00:25:40] Natalie McMillan: and just being like, no, I can do all of this. Like screw all these rules. Love that.

Sometimes, if I'm traveling with my boyfriend or with other people, I can definitely be the introvert in the group and like, okay, he'll like go up and talk to that person. And that's fine. But if you're in this like new situation where you're forced to kind of get out of your shell a little bit, you can see like, oh, when I'm actually solo traveling in that situation, I can be the extrovert.

I, I go up and talk to anyone. That's an interesting side of me that like I hadn't seen before. I don't know, personal growth wise. It's it's cool

[00:26:43] Jen Tenzer: So I like to say that I'm like, Travel agent and half travel therapist because I, I basically, I provide end to end service. So I help you feel comfortable traveling alone. I help you pick the destination. If you don't already have somewhere in mind, I find all the coolest hotels for you and activities.

And then I also take care of booking everything, and then I'm also just available. 24 7 during your trip. So if you feel kind of like achy or uncomfortable while you're somewhere, and you want to reach out to someone and you don't want to reach out to your mom.

Exactly. No, I love that. I was reading on your website that you have that like 24 hour availability for someone traveling, because it is nice things happen. You show up and your room isn't ready, or they don't have your reservation. Like you can get really panicked and flustered. So to know that there's someone you can call and like can kind of help you through it, walk you through it, help you on the back end.

That would be really relieving, especially as a first time solo

[00:28:01] Natalie McMillan: Yeah. And you don't have to figure out all those little details.

You can kind of just enjoy it more. Yeah.

[00:28:22] Jen Tenzer: So I imagine Costa Rica is somewhere that I probably will have, like my first or second retreat at, I imagine a mix of like wellness and adventure. I'm someone that can like geek out hard on all the spiritual stuff. So I would love like soundbath nights and yoga and things like that. But also. Zip lining and hiking and just like opportunities for women to come together, whether they're solo or they come with a friend and meet other like-minded.

And if you're interested in future retreats, definitely head to my website, which is www.thesoloist.travel. And you can sign up for my newsletter where you'll receive all the latest information. Well, you put that in the

I think me and Natalie might be on one of those trends. I'm like this sounds right. Well, thank you so much for your time, Jen. Seriously, this was such great information. I think it's so helpful and inspiring. At least for me. I want to book my next solo travel trip with you. And so we really appreciate your time.

[00:29:40] Corinne Foxx: fun. We'll have a great rest of your day. You too.

[00:29:50] Corinne Foxx: Oh my goodness. I love Jen. She's so caring about the trip. I know. I was

[00:29:57] Corinne Foxx: Well, the very

And you could do like two days, you know

[00:30:12] Natalie McMillan: No, I know. Where should I go? I've never been to Italy. Yeah.

[00:30:19] Natalie McMillan: No, that's a really fun place to go. I know about my sister and I promised each other. We would go to camp.

Oh yeah. Off limits.

[00:30:38] Natalie McMillan: not mad at it. It is the 2020 Bernie EA, which is B E R N I E R. Okay. But it's from France. So, you know, it's silent. Yes.

Chardonnay.

[00:30:54] Natalie McMillan: or how did this week? I'm really surprised we haven't done it. It's Ms. Reese with a spoon.

[00:31:04] Natalie McMillan: because she was in that movie wild,

Yeah. That was a true story. I know, I know it was based on a real woman, Cheryl.

Oh God, I don't really remember that movie, but I know it was inspiring. It was inspiring.

[00:31:41] Natalie McMillan: Reese. It's a reset or was, and it's a show.

We think we don't, we think we don't always rate them pretty high. I don't think we've ever had a, we never had a tenant Hottie out of Hottie shard. No, this is the first. This is the first. Yeah. So you guys, you can pick up a bottle. It'll be linked in our show notes and our stories this week and in the newsletter.

[00:32:07] Corinne Foxx: well. That's that, that really throws it off. Yeah, I really think so. It's for sure. I reset or,

[00:32:19] Corinne Foxx: all right. This is part of the upside where you play a little wrap-up game and this week it is facts and hacks and snacks, snacks, you know, we're still, we're still crunching on cookies over here. Holy shit. I

Oh my God.

[00:32:39] Natalie McMillan: what you're doing. And by this, yeah, this is what it's on. Pause. Buy it, come back for snacks, facts and hacks.

I'll go with that. Okay. You do your, my facts, which I thought was very interesting. So, you know, Google images, right. You can just like look up things. Yeah. Google images was literally created after Jennifer Lopez wore her infamous two thousands Grammy dress. I knew that you knew.

[00:33:11] Corinne Foxx: Fascinating. I did not know that. Is it so many people were searching for her outfit online that they had to create an image function? Yeah, that'll be in the newsletter this week,

[00:33:27] Corinne Foxx: literally created Google images,

The power of fashion, the power fact, the power of Jayla power of J-Lo in that, I mean, it's icon. It is

[00:33:42] Natalie McMillan: if anybody else was going to wear

Anyways, so that was my fact, what is your

And when you vacuum. Hey, you don't get that weird vacuum smell. And B it's makes it, makes everything smell really good. I want to do that, but I'm scared.

[00:34:28] Natalie McMillan: I don't know. I'm usually the one afraid of exposures. Sure.

[00:34:32] Natalie McMillan: in the parts. Okay. Well, here's the thing. It's like one drop of oil.

[00:34:38] Natalie McMillan: a little couple drops or just put a little cotton ball, put a little drops in there and then put it in the

[00:34:47] Natalie McMillan: shot. Yeah. It's really fun. Little hack. That's a great hack. I definitely did not know. It makes everything smell like an orange field.

Oh my

[00:35:03] Natalie McMillan: Love it. Citrus fruit.

[00:35:09] Natalie McMillan: We have to include snacks from now on

Yeah. So we just have to decide who brings a snack. Right? Right. Very exciting. You guys. Anyways. So if you guys.

[00:35:27] Corinne Foxx: coming though. Newsletter. Am I doing this right? pod.com. You can follow us at, am I doing this right pod right in? If you guys want us to do an episode, we love hearing from you guys.

We love responding to your DMS at so much fun, so much fun. I'm like always, we'll be back next week with another episode. Love you. Love you. .